Honduran fiasco

The Trump administration must demand transparency, honesty in vote count.

Copyright 2017: Houston Chronicle

December 11, 2017

Photo: JOHAN ORDONEZ, Contributor

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez addresses supporters during a march on Dec. 6, 2017 in Tegucigalpa. The Central American nation of 10 million has plunged into uncertainty punctuated with clashes since the Nov. 26 election pitting Hernandez against challenger Salvador Nasralla, with both sides claiming victory. (AFP/Getty Images)

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez addresses supporters...

The Trump administration needs to get its act together on the controversial presidential election in Honduras and make it clear to President Juan Orlando Hernández that his country's biggest benefactor won't put up with rigged elections.

Two weeks after a hotly contested vote, the small Central American country of 9 million people was still waiting for results after the ballot counting stumbled to a halt as it neared an end, supposedly due to technical issues and other problems.

When the counting continued, the lead suddenly shifted from challenger Salvador Nasralla, a moderate leftist and national television star, to the incumbent Hernández seeking a second term.

The events provoked violent protests in which 11 people have died, some at the hands of security forces, and raised suspicions about the legitimacy of the electoral process, including among observers from the European Union and the Organization of American States.

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But two days after the election and in the midst of the protests, the U.S. State Department stunned just about everyone. It sent a document certifying that Honduras had complied with its rule of law and human rights requirements to obtain millions of dollars in U.S. aid.

Democrats in Congress immediately assumed that President Donald Trump was showing support for Hernández, a conservative who has gained favor with the White House for cracking down on street gangs that have made the country one of the world's most violent.

But a State Department spokeswoman told reporters the certification was simply sent when it had been completed, saying "This was just something that it was done when it was done. Okay?"

Okay, we get it. If it wasn't sent to help Hernandez, then it was sent with no thought or knowledge about the delicate situation in Honduras and the effect it could have, which among other things was to add to the confusion.

Since then the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa has issued statements supporting a "free and transparent" resolution to the election, but what we need to see now is Trump telling Hernandez in no uncertain terms that the future of U.S. aid depends on a clean, credible election.

And then we need the Honduran government agreeing to a complete, very public recounting of the votes.